This is the cake that I entered in the finals at the edible beach competition at the Bake and Cake Show at Earls Court in London.

I used 7 square cakes, 5 formed the main part of the cake and 2 formed the turrets.

When the basic shape was formed, I covered it in buttercream and put it in the fridge to firm up, overnight (photos 2 & 3).

The following day, I covered the cake in fine brown sugar mixed with royal icing, to make it really sturdy. Once this had dried, I applied another layer of buttercream and added the final coating of brown sugar (I used a mixture of brown sugars) and carefully pressed it into the buttercream (photo 4).

The seaweed was made from sugar paste that I dyed green and painted in clear piping gel to give it a wet look. The sea was also covered in clear piping gel and I created the sea break with fine light coloured brown sugar. I made the shells out of white sugar paste and painted them with a chestnut coloured edible paint. The flags were made from flower paste and I painted on the Union Jack and the poles were made from dyed pasta. The upside down ice cream was a real cone on top of a sugar paste ball covered in chocolate buttercream (photo 5).

Photos 6 and 7 show close ups of the some of the shells and the icecream.

Photo 8 was taken at the Bake and Cake show where all the competition cakes were displayed. My cake is in the distance with two people looking at it.

This cake was on a board of 16″ square and it was really heavy. Luckily my husband was on hand to carry it in to the show!

Although I was a finalist in the competition, I didn’t win, but there were really nice comments made about how realistic it looked (I kept it life size) and I saw plenty of people photographing it and wondering how the sand was made.

Hi, just to let you know, cake will have a cupcake stall at the Deaconsfield fete in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire on Saturday 15th Sept from 1 pm. It’s a big annual event which includes a dog show, fun fair, local entertainment, climbing and various stalls. So a great day out for the family.

Also, I’m a finallist in the Edible Beach competition at the Cake and Bake Show at Earls Court on 22nd and 23rd September. My sandcastle cake will be on view with the other finalists for the two days of the event. I’ve never made a sandcastle cake before, so wish me luck!